|
|
Pennsylvania - Montgomery County Beekeepers' Association (MCBA) Serving Montgomery and Bucks County Pennsylvania, the MCBA is an association of hobbyist and professional beekeepers. Our mission is to provide education, hands-on training, support, and fellowship in all aspects of beekeeping. Both experienced beekeepers and novices participate in our monthly meetings, field trips, and social events.
Help Needed for PA Farm Show Booth 
A meeting was held to plan the booth on Dec 27. Ten people came with lots of goodies in hand to share! Now we need you to bring 3 samples of your honey and apiary products to Allison, Ellie or Robin by Monday Jan 5th. We need a minimum of five different sources of honey to qualify, but the more we have the better we are judged! Watch your email for details, or if you don't receive emails from us, use the Contact Us form on this site. Help us win 1st Place again this year. Hope to see you at the show!
Hive Equipment Irradiation for American Foulbrood (AFB) Do you have, or do you suspect AFB? If so, there is a new program started for the irradiation of hives to eliminate the spore forming bacteria that cause AFB. Previous methods of control for AFB have called for the costly destruction of hives and equipment. Review the details on our Irradiation Update page and contact MCBA if you would like to have your hives irradiated this spring. Take action quickly, you need to be registered by March 1 to make the March 18, 2009 irradiation date. Help yourself and your fellow beekeepers by spreading the word about hive equipment sterilization!
|
Calendar Change If you have already marked up your calendar for 2009 with the MCBA events, "bee" aware that the bee package arrival date has changed to April 4th. Changes were made to New Beekeepers schedule, 4-H and the consolidated calendar. Also, the Spring Hive Irradiation dates were added. Keep an eye on the website for any future changes!
More Honey Laundering In an in-depth investigative report, Seattle P-I reports on 973 drums of imported honey worth more than $500,000 seized at Seattle Tacoma port, and describes the tangled route that the honey and other honey shipments have taken to get to the US. The report includes illegal changes in country of origin, illegal antibiotics in the honey and honey that is not pure honey, at all! The shocking schemes are all to get this lucrative product onto the US market. Read more.
Penn State Study Finds Honey more Effective than OTCs for Nighttime Coughing The 2007 study showed that Honey worked best for reducing the frequency and severity of nighttime coughing as compared to over the counter medicines for the same purpose in children older than 12 months of age. 300 Year-Old Beeswax Found Washed up on an Oregon State Beach earlier this year, scientists dated the 10-lb block of beeswax to a Spanish Galleon that sunk more than 300 years ago. Even more fascinating? They believe the wax was from the far east based upon the bees wings they found in the wax and the lack of native bee species in North America at the time. Read more.
 Haagen-Dazs Supports the Cause for CCD ResearchIf you haven't been to their website, it is full of activities (send your friends bee-mail), curricula for teachers and t-shirts to support the cause. Also watch the video of their Ads for awareness. Check out their site at Haagen Dazs Loves Honey Bees.
 The Secret Life of Bees: 4-H Connection
Many of you may know that National 4-H Council has partnered with Fox Searchlight Pictures' feature film, "The Secret Life of Bees" to support
4-H's Science, Engineering and Technology communication efforts. Nearly 700 4-H professionals enjoyed this fabulous film, based on the novel by author Sue Monk Kidd, during an exclusive 4-H screening at the Galaxy
III Conference in Indianapolis.
This exciting partnership also revealed that Ms. Kidd is a 4-H alumna who credits her 4-H club experience in entomology and reading as a
positive force in her life and career: "Wouldn't you know-- my history with 4-H has to do with books and bugs. So perhaps it is not completely
surprising that I grew up not only to read books, but write them, and that one of those books was about the secret life of the Apis
Mellifera."
You can find out more about the film, read Ms. Kidd's full story, follow her on a special backstage tour, and view special souvenirs by visiting
www.4-H.org. "The Secret Life of Bees" was released on October 17 to great reviews and is in theaters everywhere now.
Please direct any questions to Nancy Cole (301-961-2926) at National 4-H Council.
Help Support 4-H Center by Recycling! Read more about 4-H Recycling
SWARM? Please call us, don't email.
See our Swarm Control page for information on reaching beekeepers, by phone, in your region. Calling all Cooks! Don't forget to bring honey-baked goods to upcoming meetings and events!
Drop 3 Jars of Honey with Nancy (or Ellie), Allison or Robin by Jan 5th for the Farm Show! Exec Board Meeting: Tue, Jan 6, 2009, 7pm Everyone welcome Location: Uehling Residence Thu, Jan 8, 2008 - PA Farm Show Booth Setup - Volunteers Needed! Contact Robin Kugler. PA Farm Show, Harrisburg, PA Sat 10 Jan - Sat 17 Jan 2009 Come see the MCBA beekeeping booth and learn about bees, honey and wax products General Mtg: Commercial Beekeeping Tue, Feb 10, 2009, 7pm Location: Skippack 4-H Center, Oak Rm Special Event: Chester County Beekeeping Seminar (MCBA Members Welcome!) Sat, Feb 21, 2009, 8am - 5pm Location: Westtown School, Westtown, PA New Beekeepers Course Starts Tue, Feb 24, 2009, 6pm Location: Skippack 4-H Center, Oak Rm Special Event: Movie Night "Bee Movie" Sat, Feb 28, 2009, 5:30 pm Pot Luck followed by the movie, with prizes for those finding the most inaccuracies! Location: Skippack 4-H Center, Maple Rm See you next YEAR!
|
Looking for an Old News Article? Check out Bees in the News to find the older posts that were originally on the home page. Both fun and scientific, they are posted on our new page. 
January Newsletter Photo by: Bill Mondjack © Mar 2004
MCBA Marketplace Looking for a venue to advertise the sale of your products? Or are you a consumer looking to find a place to buy local honey, pollen, propolis or beeswax? Then look no further. MCBA is starting up a Marketplace, which will be free for MCBA members. Look in the January newsletter for additional details on how to sign up.
EAS to Make Pre-1925 Beekeeping Texts Available On-Line In case you hadn't heard, from the Eastern Apiculture Society website: "An exciting opportunity exists for beekeepers to help make spectacular volumes from the E.F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library available to the public via the World Wide Web. EAS has donated seed money to the effort to digitize rare books in the E.F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library. The Tampa Bay Beekeepers Association has offered a challenge grant where TBBA will match the next $1,000 in new public donations to this effort. This PDF file provides additonal details, as well as a form for submitting your donation. As these volumes are digitized, they will be made available at The Hive and the Honeybee: Selections from the E.F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection. As of the summer of 2004, the first ten volumes are available on-line."
Carbon-Free Honey Labeling Honey received "carbon-free" seal due to offsetting all of its carbon emissions in the production and distribution of the honey with environmental projects like reforestation. Read more.
Bear Found Guilty in Court of Law for Stealing Honey Bear found guilty (in absentia) and state had to pay beekeeper, since the bear was broke. See the full story at Sky News.
Fun Facts Honey bees may start to concentrate nectar in flight on the return to the hive! Why wait to start the evaporation of moisture when you are zipping through the air? Read more.
Bee Venom Helps Fight Hypertension -- Latest in Penn State Research Penn reasearchers have created a way to use bee venom to help study hypertension. Read it here.
Getting Ready for 2009 Don't forget to pay your 2009 Dues.
Please send your $10 Annual Dues (check payable to "M.C.B.A.") with any updates in contact information (name, address, email, phone) to: (Use our handy form) MCBA c/o Anne Brennan 145 Cedar St. Jenkintown, PA 19046 PS) You may also send your PSBA State Beekeeper dues of $20 Indiv / $25 Household (total of $30 or $35 for both MCBA and PSBA) to receive 10 state newsletters each year, encourage research on bee health, and promote efforts to dissuade local township and boroughs from restricting beekeeping.
MCBA Meeting Location: Montgomery County 4-H Center 1015 Bridge Road (Route 113) Skippack, PA 19426 Contact MCBA At: Inquiries@MontCoBeekeepers.org
If you still have your membership survey, feel free to turn it in to:
We Are Under Continuous Construction!  Our web page is ALWAYS under construction, so check back frequently for additions and new information. |
|